Mom’s truck stop sex endangered child, say police

Monday

Jan 26, 2009 at 1:31 PMJan 26, 2009 at 2:52 PM

PORTSMOUTH — An intoxicated Elwyn Road women took her 10-year-old son to a Greenland truck stop Saturday night, knocked on the first truck she saw, then had sex with the driver while the boy watched, according to police.

Elizabeth Dinan

PORTSMOUTH — An intoxicated Elwyn Road women took her 10-year-old son to a Greenland truck stop Saturday night, knocked on the first truck she saw, then had sex with the driver while the boy watched, according to police.

Crystal Walden, 34, swapped sex with the trucker for the promise of a ride to Texas, before her son was found wandering in the cold without shoes or a coat, Greenland police allege. She was arrested on two class A misdemeanor counts of child endangerment and following a Monday video arraignment in Portsmouth District Court, is being held on $2,500 personal recognizance and $2,500 cash bail.

One count alleges Walden took her child out in “dangerously cold weather with inappropriate clothing.” The other charge alleges she brought him into “an unknown male’s vehicle and engaged in sexual intercourse.”

According to an affidavit by Greenland police Sgt. Dawn Sawyer, Walden was arrested Jan. 24 at 10:30 p.m. after two officers found the boy at the truck stop and asked him where his mother was.

“She’s in a truck having sex with the driver,” the boy told police, according to court records.

The child said after his mother and grandmother argued, his mother took him outside, where they wandered until an unknown woman gave them a ride back home. Walden again took the boy outside and an unknown male drove them to the TA truck stop at 108 Ocean Road, the boy told police.

There, Walden had sex with the stranger, while her son watched from a top bunk in the truck’s cab, according to Sawyer’s affidavit. After fleeing into the TA “to get away,” the boy encountered police officers, according to court records.

The trucker is alleged to have confirmed the boy’s story, after police found Walden in his truck, “visibly intoxicated” and with her pants inside out, according to police.

“It’s only because I was drinking tequila,” Walden said during her Monday arraignment. “I promise I will never take another drink again. I made a mistake.”

Walden also told the court she fled Texas for Portsmouth to escape a physically abusive relationship.

Sawyer said she expects to file an additional charge of “interference with custody,” alleging Walden disobeyed Texas court orders which gave custody of her children to her mother, a Portsmouth resident. That order was violated when Walden attempted to flee the state with the trucker, Sawyer alleges.

In addition to the cash bail, Judge Gardner imposed conditions prohibiting Walden from having unsupervised contact with her children and to find some place other than her mother’s Elwyn Road residence to reside.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service